The Mets Stink

One thing that became very obvious over the recent weeks was showcased tonight on Sunday Night Baseball—the Mets are a mess. Their 7-1 loss to Atlanta was only one game, but if you've seen them in the past month then you know they stink. Despite the second-highest payroll in baseball (just under $150 million), the Mets are 43-48, just lost three-out-of-four to the Braves and are 15-29 since June 1.

Of course fans and baseball people will point to the amount of injuries that continue to pile up for the Mets. Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, J.J. Putz and John Maine have all missed a significant amount of time already this season. Injuries are a part of the game and sometimes they dictate the fortunes of a season. But doesn't it seem like it's always something for the Mets in recent years? Last year, it was their bullpen falling apart, blowing games. So they go out and spend a ridiculous sum of money on the pen, only to see injuries derail the team in 2009. And there's always the late-season collapse the past two years, which is difficult to explain other than they simply buckled until the pressure.

If you looked at the Mets lineup lately, you wouldn't recognize half of them. And then there's the Mets pitching. They've had to rely on some of these names: Elmer Dessens, Tim Redding, Casey Fossum and Jon Niese. Ouch. Then there's Livan Hernandez who sucks, Oliver Perez who still sucks and Mike Pelfrey who's been awful this year.

Overall, it's added up to a bunch of nothing for the Mets. It's actually a surprise they have hung around as long as they have. But that's changing fast thanks to the Phillies kicking it up a notch along with the Mets continued struggles. I'm writing this team off once again. At least we won't have to watch or hear about their epic collapse in the last month of the season because come September, the Mets won't be anywhere near the playoff chase.

Start Spreading the News

For the first time since 1993 (excluding the strike year), the MLB playoffs will not feature a team from New York.

What a shame.

How dare the baseball world move on to the post-season without the Yankees or Mets. It's the first time this has happened since the divisional series and wildcard have been added. Just think about the waste of millions of dollars with each team.

The Yankees focused on their potent lineup, but did not add any depth to their rotation and it cost them. They relied on pitching "prospects" Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes to bolster their staff, but they ended up in Triple-A or the DL for the majority of the year. They dealt other prospects away for Ivan Rodriguez and Xavier Nady to replace the injuries of Posada and Matsui. All for not.

Then you have the Metropolitans who went out and traded potential superstar Carlos Gomez to Minnesota for Johan Santana. The hope was for Santana to push the Mets into the post-season after last season's September collapse. Santana did his part. The Mets bullpen did not. The pen was awful, especially after losing Billy Wagner to injury late in the season. They wasted numerous Santana starts all season and then could not close out games down the stretch, leading to another missed playoff opportunity.

Talk about two teams with similar comparisons. Two New York teams closing their respectable stadiums this year, featuring $100+ million payrolls and nothing to show for it on the last day of the season.

We won't have to hear from the Big Apple this October, and that's just fine with me.

Johan Santana Must Hate the Mets

Johan Santana couldn't have envisioned this when he decided to leave the Minnesota organization after eight stellar seasons to sign the New York Mets. Like most people in baseball, he was banking on the Mets being a power in the National League and with them adding him to the rotation, this was supposed to be his best chance at a World Series ring. Well the Mets are on their way to screwing that up.

Earlier today, Santana tossed another brilliant game for the Metropolitans, leaving in the 8th inning with a 3-2 lead. The bullpen promptly served up a game-tying home run in the ninth, taking the win away once again from Johan. They have done this on a routine basis this year, including two outings ago when the Mets bullpen gave up three runs over the past two innings against the Astros.

Santana currently has a dominating 2.85 ERA through 24 starts in 161 innings. His record to show for that sterling ERA? 9-7. Nine wins. He has tossed 16 quality starts and have lost four of those games. Another six of those starts have ended in a no-decision after the pen decided to blow it. Not to mention two starts where he suffered the loss after allowing only one run through seven plus innings due to lack of run support.

The bottom line is Santana is fifth in the National League in ERA and should have about 16 or 17 wins. If things keep up the way they are going, he's looking at his lowest win total since 2002, when he only made 14 starts and won eight. Obviously he's going to be saying the right things to the media, but this has to be frustrating. Also, this isn't just about him getting wins for his stat line, but the Mets signed him to help get them over their massive collapse from last year. That hasn't been happening, and it's not going to happen if they continue to waste starts from their best pitcher. The Mets are only two games behind Philadelphia for the division, but unless they find a way to take advantage of Santana's starts, the Mets are going to miss the playoffs for the second consecutive year.